The Sacrificial Lamb
by Eve Frost
Summary: The war is over, but not everyone walks away with a happy ending. A haunting song and ghostly nightmares plague Harry when he returns to Hogwarts to complete his seventh year. Oneshot. NOT DH-Epilogue compliant.


Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters, settings, plots and ideas are not mine. No profit is made from this piece.

**The Sacrificial Lamb by Eve Frost**

* * *

"Come away, little loss. Come away to the water to the ones that are waiting only for you."

Harry woke up with the haunting words sung in the voice of child reverberating through his mind. He shivered from the feeling of foreboding the words gave him. Sighing, Harry ran his hand through his hair, slipped his glasses on and whispered, "Tempus," wand in hand. The glowing numbers showed that it was only five am and that he had only gotten three hours of sleep. Groaning, he fell back on to his pillow wishing for another couple of hours of sleep. Unfortunately, he knew that there was no going back to sleep after that dream. He sighed again, lit his wand and grabbed his history book. If he wasn't going to be getting any sleep, then he certainly could catch up on his reading for class. If he was lucky, it might even put him to sleep.

Several hours later, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast with his friends. He had been unable to fall back asleep, and, now, he ate unenthusiastically eyes drooping and resting his chin in his hand. His eyes fell shut as Harry became unable to keep them open any longer. The noise of the Great Hall faded in seconds, and in that point between sleep and dreams, he heard the child's voice again.

"Come away, little loss. Come away to the water, away from the life you always knew. We are calling for you."

Harry started awake and knocked his glass of pumpkin juice over. His friends stared at him as Hermione used her wand to clean up the mess.

"Harry, mate, are you alright?"

Harry shook his head to clear it and then turned to Ron, "Yeah, fine. Just too little sleep, you know?"

Hermione looked at him worriedly, "Harry, do you want to talk about it? I mean, we were with you through it. Sometimes talking helps."

Harry shook his head. Hermione's words had brought empathetic looks onto his friends' faces, "No, it's just dreams. No worries."

Harry could see the suspicion on Hermione's face and in her voice as she said, "You're sure?"

He grinned, "Yes, I'm sure. I think I'd know. Come on let's get to class. Was that Charms essay due today?"

The look of panic on Ron's face distracted Hermione who began to berate the red head as he hastened to leave the Great Hall. The other Gryffindors laughed at the frequent occurrence and followed the couple out. As he grabbed his things, Harry frowned. He'd heard the unsettling music again, and the feeling that something wasn't right was beginning to settle about him.

-\ /-

The next time he dreamed of the voice was in History that afternoon. He'd made his way through his morning classes fighting through his tiredness, but in History, Harry could no longer keep his eyes open. Fortunately for him, the voice didn't begin singing until the end of the class period, but now instead of just a voice, he saw a little girl with her hair in pigtails and large brown eyes dressed in something that a muggle would have worn during the Victorian Age. They were on the moors, and behind her was a pond.

"Come away, little light. Come away to the darkness. In the shade of the night, we'll come looking for you. Come away, little light. Come away to the darkness, to the ones appointed to see it through. We are calling for you. We are coming for you."

As the little girl began to sing, another voice joined hers. Next to the little girl, a boy appeared who looked not much older than the girl but dressed in clothing from the 1940s. As they finished singing, Harry woke up. Just before he opened his eyes, he noticed something odd about the two children. Both children were dripping wet.

Harry woke to Hermione shaking his shoulder, "Class is over, Harry. You look really pale. I think you should go see Madam Pomfrey."

Harry looked down at his hands to see them shaking, "I think you're right. These dreams are really creeping me out."

He looked up to see the concerned faces of his two friends. He must look really bad for them to be that worried. To be fair, he was growing more concerned about his dreams, but he remembered that they were only dreams, well, nightmares. Still, they couldn't hurt him.

Ron grabbed Harry's backpack and said, "I'll take this back up to the tower before dinner. You head to the Hospital Wing, and we'll meet you back in the Great Hall for dinner. Ok?"

Harry nodded and walked out the door with the two. When they reached the point where they would separate, Hermione hugged Harry quickly and then set off with her boyfriend to Gryffindor's tower. For a few minutes, Harry watched them walk away grateful for their presence in his life before heading to the Hospital Wing.

It was easy enough to get some Dreamless Sleep from Madam Pomfrey. She liked him, and unlike many others, he hadn't relied on the potion in the days after Voldemort's defeat. With the vial of potion in his pocket and the assurance that he would no longer be plagued by the creepy dreams, dinner was a light-hearted affair. The losses during the war hit everybody hard, but these days, many of the students embraced an appreciation for life and living that they hadn't before. Most tried not to dwell on the negative realizing that they had lived through horrible times, and it hadn't destroyed them like it had many others. The only odd moment of the night was when Luna came up and hugged him whispering "I'm sorry" into his ear.

After dinner, homework was done in the common room with his friends and girlfriend, but his lack of sleep had taken its toll. As the first first years headed up to bed, Harry said good night to his friends and followed them up the stairs to his dormitory. He quickly changed and drank the vial of sleeping potion. By the time his head lay on his pillow, Harry had fallen asleep.

The beginning of the night went well for Harry. The sleeping potion worked and kept the young man from dreaming, but a little after 3 in the morning, Harry began to dream.

He was in the same place as before except instead of just the two children there were a small crowd of people. Many of the people were dressed in period clothes ranging from the Victorian age, like the little girl, to clothes that were of recent fashion. The one thing that all had in common was that they were wet. They were absolutely dripping wet as if they had just walked out of the pond that lay behind them. As Harry stared at them, the crowd of people led by the little girl that he saw first began singing and beckoning him towards them.

"Come away, little lamb. Come away to the water. Give yourself so that we may live anew. Come away, little lamb. Come away to the slaughter to the ones appointed to see this through. We are calling for you. We are coming for you."

While Harry dreamed, he walked. If anyone was awake, they could have stopped the young man who was sleepwalking through the castle, but most of those that patrolled the castle at night had went to sleep only 15 minutes before. There was no one to stop him, so Harry walked. Still asleep, he walked down halls, climbed down moving staircases and walked right out of the front doors of Hogwarts and its gates. Once outside of the gates, the brunet disapparated.

In Harry's dream, the scene changed. He stood on the same moor with the same crowd of people, but it was no longer light out. Instead, it was night, and a huge full moon lit the moor and glinted off the waters of the pond. He looked down when he began to feel a chill and noticed he was now wearing the pajamas he had fallen asleep in. He looked up again at the crowd who now were gray and see-through just like... ghosts. As they paused in their singing, he could hear the sound of drops of water splashing on the ground. His eyes caught the little girl's as she began to smile a sinister smile. The ghosts began to walk towards Harry.

"Come away, little lamb. Come away to the water, to the arms that are waiting only for you. Come away, little lamb. Come away to the slaughter, to the ones appointed to see this through. We are calling for you. We are coming for you. We are coming for you. We are coming for you..."

Harry screamed.

-\ /-

_**Defeater of Dark Lord Dead!**_

_**By Annie Bawde**_

_Harry Potter, 18, was found dead yesterday after being missing for two weeks. He was apparently drowned in a pond in the moors of northern England. Authorities have no explanations for his death and suspect foul play._

_Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived and Defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort, had been missing for the past two weeks after friends and classmates found his Hogwarts' bed empty. Potter had gone to bed early because of a lack of sleep the previous night. His dorm mates reported that he appeared to still be asleep and in bed when they had gone to sleep. The next morning, Potter was not in his bed, and no belongings appeared to be missing. A thorough search of Hogwarts castle grounds found that Potter was nowhere on the property. A nationwide search began 12 hours after he was first noted to be missing._

_Yesterday, the search for the missing Boy-Who-Lived ended. Aurors, with the assistance of the Unspeakables, were able to trace Potter's location to a desolate area in the moors of northern England. When they arrived at the site, Aurors found Potter's wand on the ground feet away from the pond. After further investigation, Aurors found baffling evidence of drag marks into the pond that suggest that Potter was forcibly drug into the body of water but were unable to find any sign that another person or creature was present. Using spellwork, Aurors located Potter's remains, as well as the remains of twenty other individuals,at the bottom of the pond._

_When questioned, muggle residents of the closest village had much to say about the small pond which they referred to as Dead Man's Pond. "It's haunted," said Grace Hammond, local historian. "At least, that's what the stories say. Has been for two hundred years or so. The legend says a little girl was drowned in the pond by her father." According to Hammond, local legend says that the ghost of the little girl is responsible for drowning many of the village's missing people. Locals report hearing odd strands of music on nights of the full moon. Interestingly, the Ministry of Magic's register of ghosts does not show that a ghost or ghosts reside or appear anywhere near the north England pond or village. _

_In light of the strange circumstances, Aurors say that they will make a thorough investigation of the area especially after the recovery of so many remains. They do not believe that there is any evidence that supports suicide as a cause of death. Spokesperson Auror Harlow Grant stated, "We've spoken to Mr. Potter's loved ones. There were no signs that Mr. Potter was depressed or likely to take his life. We intend to get to the bottom of this in as thorough an investigation as possible. Britain has lost a great man. Harry Potter will not be forgotten."_

_Potter's friends and family could not be reached for comment. Funeral information will be released soon. Britain has lost one of our greatest heroes. Harry Potter shall never be forgotten._

Author's Note: The song quoted is "Come Away to the Water" performed by Maroon 5 and written by Glen Hansard. The lyrics are property of Hansard.

~Eve Frost


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